Taylor's Guide to Dealing with a Master
by aSecondStory
Summary: When Taylor came home from summer camp her best friend no longer wanted to be her friend. But who is this strange new girl that seems to have replaced her in Emma's life. Its time to investigate.


This story was a pretty quick throw together after I wondered if there was any stories where Taylor reported Sophia as a master. Since it seemed like there weren't any, I decided to write one. I have not written fanfiction in while so please forgive me for any mistakes. I might end up going back and editing or fleshing out more of this story but for now this is it. Let me know what you think! Also keep in mind this is young Taylor, one who has not gone through all of the bad. Story is crossposted on spacebattles under Taledevourer.

August 2009

I stood there confused, shocked and on the edge of tears. In front of me, a door slammed shut. It was not any old door either, but rather a door that held so many memories and pleasant times. But no longer it seems. Emma apparently wants nothing to do with me. She has a new friend now, some tough looking girl whose smile did not meet her eyes. She had her hand on Emma's shoulder as our friendship was torn apart. As the door slammed shut she mouthed the word weak at me.

I continue to stand there in silence, staring at nothing really, lost in my thoughts. I was broken out of my reverie by the sound of laughter coming from above me. I looked up and saw Emma and her new best friend looking down at me. New friend smiles meanly then turns and says something to Emma, who nods then looks at me.

"Get out of here Taylor. I've moved on. No one wants you, not even your dad. That's why he sent you away this summer."

Horrified, I turned around, the tears that threatened to fall, now finally overcoming my resistance and they began to escape my eyes. I made my way home in a haze, the world around a faded background. I got off the bus and walked home, unlocking the door as I notice that Dad is not yet home, again. It seems like it only got worse since he sent me away for camp. He couldn't even make to the bus station himself, instead he sent a cab to pick me up and bring me home. Even then, I didn't seem him until this morning, him not getting back until after I had already fallen asleep.

Inside the house I notice the message waiting light is blinking. Going over, I listen to the message and hear dad tell me that he would be home much later again and to order some food with the money on the table. I looked at the money and ignored it. I woodenly climbed the stairs instead, not able to stomach the idea of eating anything right now. I just wanted to go to sleep and wake up tomorrow with none of this ever having happened.

So that is what I did. I cleaned up and went straight to bed. When I woke up in the morning I briefly forgot about the problem of the previous day and started the day in a good mood. It didn't last very long before I did remember what had happened and I ended up just laying in bed. It was only when I started to get extremely hungry did I get out of bed. It turned out that dad had brought home pizza last night and there was some left. I ate that while I considered what my options were. A large part of me didn't want to go back to Emma's house in case this nightmare turned out to be true. I didn't want to get rejected again. Eventually I thought of calling her house maybe try to talk to here again or even one of her parents. Satisfied with my plan of attack I finished off my pizza before making the call.

Almost sick to my stomach with nervous energy, I dialed the familiar number.

"Hello, Barnes residence" a nasally, male voice spoke out from the phone.

"Oh, hello Mr Barnes! It's Taylor. I was wondering if I could speak to Emma" I asked quickly, the words rushing out of my mouth?

"Ah, Taylor," his voice held something in it. Some quality that registered some level of insincerely to it. "I am sorry, but Emma doesn't want to see you. She's moved on, has new friends. These things happen Taylor. As you get older you will understand more. Now, I am very sorry but I have to go."

"Wait" I exclaimed desperately, but Emma's father had already hung up on me. Devastated, I hung the phone up before sliding to my knees on kitchen floor. Tears threatened to fall but I shut my eyes tightly and refused to let them. I wrapped my arms around my knees as I tried to get my breathing back under control. I stayed that way for what seemed like forever. Just me, by myself, alone. My mother was gone, my best friend is gone, and my father might as well be gone for how much he has been in my life since mom died.

The near silence of the kitchen was chased away as one of our neighbors turned on their radio to listen to it as they worked on their garden. I wasn't paying it any attention until small parts of what they were listening to drifted through my apathy, catching my attention.

"The PRT and Guild are advising caution for women travelling or planning to travel to Montreal. Over the past two weeks there has been been six women to go missing in the city that the authorities are currently aware of. Investigators have concluded this morning that this is the work of Heartbreaker, a villain that travels around the Canadian province of Quebec. The PRT classify Heartbreaker as a Master and he has the ability to verbally command his victims into doing whatever he desires. He is immensely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. The PRT advises that signs of mastered individuals may include, but are not limited to: Repeating verbal keywords or phrases, capable of acts that they are normally not capable of , Acting out in unusual ways, suddenly cutting ties with the people close to them…"

I stopped listening at that point but it hardly mattered. I know knew what was going on. New girl, whomever she is, is mastering Emma, her father, and more than likely her entire family. I had to do something about it but what? I grabbed a nearby pad of paper to try and do some brainstorming. In the middle of the page I drew a circle and inside it wrote master, before underlining that several times. Then I thought about what I wanted to do about this situation. Ideally I want to free Emma and have my friend back again. Who would be best at dealing with a master would be the PRT and the Protectorate. I knew they had a base downtown, maybe I would be able to talk to someone there. Connecting to the bubble that says master, I drew another circle in which I wrote PRT. on the other side, I drew a third bubble in which I wrote proof. Something I wanted on hand to be able to prove that this was something important to deal with. I remembered that my dad had a digital camera that he didn't use very much. If I found it I might be able to record some type of interaction that could prove that new girl is mastering Emma.

Looking at the plan it was simple but I was satisfied with it at the moment. The less there was, the smaller chance of something going wrong. It took a while but I managed to find the camera. It had been buried under a bunch of clothing and other items. I was curious to see if the battery worked or if I had to charge it. I turned on the camera by turning the small switch to the picture mode, remembering how dad had worked the camera what felt like ages ago. It looked like there was only a little amount of power left. Just enough to see what the last picture on the camera was. It was an image of Emma and I having fun at one of our birthdays. We were both wearing goofy party hats and had leftover bits of cake on our faces. I smiled fondly as I looked at the photo until the battery ran out. This was why I was doing this. For Emma, for our friendship.

While the camera was charging in my room I went to the nearby library to do some research. I wanted to find out just where the PRT was located downtown and how I could get inside. Over the course of the afternoon I found out that it was a single bus ride away from my house, and they offered free tours so I could just walk in and pretend I was there for one of those.

Happy with what I found at the library I went back home to check on the camera and eat something. There was no note from dad today so I just ended up making myself a sandwich. As I was eating it, dad came home and decided to join me. I was pretty surprised by him showing up and I was thinking about the situation with Emma so I didn't really have much to say to him. It wasn't like dad had much to say to me either, he mostly talked about work and the dockworkers. A few times he almost said moms name but he held himself back. Eventually after an extremely awkward dinner we were both finished and I left the table retreating to my room. I had to plan my surveillance of Emma and the master. I was only away at camp for one month so I still had most of the remaining month of summer to get my evidence. I wanted to have this solved before school started in September. Before the summer started our plan was for Emma and I to go to Winslow. Dad and I were both skeptical about the school, we had heard all the rumors but I still wanted to be with Emma. being on the border district I suppose I could go to Arcadia, especially with my grades but I want to be with Emma and she lived too far out of the schools boundary.

I usually started out my surveillance by going over to the Barnes house and tried to catch Emma or master new girl as I began thinking of her as. I made sure to change my hat and outfit everyday, just like they did in those old detective novels mum used to read. Once I managed to follow the two of them to the mall but I couldn't get close enough to hear anything but I did get photos. Among them I got photos of Emma being coerced into stealing items and hurting kids. I watched them sitting in the food court at the mall on day two and master new girl said something and Emma smiled and nodded before sticking out her leg and tripping a poorly dressed boy with huge glasses, about our age as he rushed passed. When he hit the ground, breaking his glasses her and master new girl laughed at him before walking away. My blood boiled as I watched this villain force my best friend hurt other people.

On day three I took the opportunity to try and follow master new girl home but I lost in only a few minutes. I guess I need more skills at this tracking thing. It is a lot more difficult than books make out to be, especially as I don't want to get caught. I tried again the next day but she seemed to realize something was wrong so I stopped my attempts and went away. Thankfully though my efforts paid off on day five. I was hanging out in the neighbors yard as I noticed that they are not home usually during the day and their hedge allows me video and sound access to the front door without being seen. I had been hanging out there for most of the morning and had already eaten of the snacks I had brought with me for today, and it wasn't even lunch yet. I was just thinking about getting up to stretch my legs when the front door opened. I turned around and turned on the camera which I had left in the ready to film position. I started filming as Emma followed master new girl out of the house. Emma looked distraught and was nearly in tears as she yelled out for the other girl.

"Sophia! Wait" cried out Emma. "Wait, I'm sorry."

Master new girl, Sophia stopped. From my angle I could see she had a smirk on her face as she rushed out of the house. Sophia controlled her expression as she turned around to face Emma. "Tell me what you are sorry for Emma" she ordered my best friend.

"I'm sorry I questioned you. You were totally right, you always are. I want to be strong again."

Sophia crossed her arms and waited, just staring at Emma, as if she was thinking about something. I could see Emma visible sweating as she waited for Sophia to answer her. I also was nearly breathless waiting for what Sophia would say. I prayed it was something suitable incriminating and that I was done with these stakeouts. Finally Sophia nodded, "before you were prey. You were weak. But, when you were challenged you stood up and became strong. And now you want to do that again. I will help you become strong, no longer prey but instead predator. But you need to listen to whatever I tell you, understand?"

As Sophia talked I could see a change overtaking Emma. She straightened her posture, wiped away her tears and lifted her chin. I could see her mouthing along the words that really stood out as Sophia monologued. Soundlessly Emma mouthed prey, weak and finally predator. When Sophia ordered Emma to listen to her admiration suddenly shone in her eyes as she gleefully responded in the affirmative.

With that the scene seemed to be over. Sophia grabbed Emma's shoulder and led her back inside the house. I waited until the door closed before I stopped the recording and let out a deep breath. This was it, I had my evidence. Now to get to the PRT. I snuck around hiding as best as I could from the Barnes's house on my way to the bus that would take me to the building downtown.

It was certainly an impressive building. Lots of glass, the building glimmered and shone in the rundown dullness of Brockton Bay. It was pretty heavily fortified though, so maybe it did fit in this city. I walked up the steps of the building towards the doors where a security guard let me through after I told him that I was there for the tour. I walked in the lobby, there were several other armed guards positioned at all the entry points to the room. I hesitated as neared the receptionist. I was scared, it would be nonsense to deny it. By doing this I would be making an enemy of a potentially strong villain. Ignoring my doubts I gritted my teeth and stepped forward. I was doing this for my best friend, if that put me in danger then so be it. I knew she would do the same if our positions were reversed. I leaned forward and lowered my voice as I neared the woman who looked up as I approached.

"I would like to report a master. I have proof that I brought with me" I motion to the camera in my hands.

The receptionist's eyes go wide as she looks at me but she quickly controls her emotions. "Understood, here is a number and someone will be with you in just a moment, there is a waiting area just over there. Please listen for your number." She then proceeded to type rapidly on her computer as I walked over to the sitting area. It was only a few moments later that my number was called by an agent who entered the lobby from a side door. I was led down a hallway and we were joined by a second guard who had his hands on his gun. The first agent led me into an interrogation room that contained two chairs, a table and a recorder and gestured for me to sit. As I sat on the far side of the table he offered me a bottle of water which I gratefully drank. I hadn't realized how dry my mouth had gotten as I began to realize how bad this could go. I could get accused of being the master in this situation.

The PRT agent sat down on the other side of me and flipped on the recorder. This is PRT Agent Even Hart. The date is August 25th, 2009 and I am in the room with" he looked at me to fill in the blanks,

"Taylor Hebert" I supplied.

"With Taylor Hebert. Precautions have been taken for the duration of this meeting, as the reported issue is a master. Miss Hebert, please explain what brought you to the PRT today?"

I am intimidated by this agent but this was the whole reason why I spent nearly the whole past week camped outside of Emma's house. "My best friend and her family are being mastered." I was surprised at how fast the words came out of my mouth. I hadn't been willing to talk to my dad about my concerns out of fear he would talk to Mr. Barnes and get mastered too. Once the gate had been opened I just kept talking. "I came back from summer camp and was really excited to see her. We kept in touch for most of the time that I was away but one day she suddenly stopped responding to my calls. So when I got back, one of the first things I did was go visit her." I sighed heavily. " That didn't go too well. She has a new friend and was insisting that she had outgrown me and didn't want to be friends with me. It was like Emma, that's her name by the way, suddenly decided to hate me for no reason. I wasn't sure what to do so I went home and called her dad the next day. But he wouldn't let me talk to Emma and he used the same language that Emma did, saying that she has outgrown me." All the while the PRT agent had been taking notes on a pad of paper he had taken out of his pocket. "I then heard the PRT broadcast about that master in Canada and radio mentioned a few ways that could identify a mastered person. That was when I realized that Sophia is mastering Emma."

The agent interrupted me here. "Sophia, is that her name or just what you've been calling her?"

I shook my head, "No". "I was calling her master new girl. That was what Emma called her."

The Agent made a hmm sound and wrote in his notebook. "Please continue" he asked me.

I collected my thoughts for a moment before continuing. "After that revelation, I had to do something. Emma is my best friend. I figured if I was able to bring some proof then something could be done about this master." I was breathing harshly by the time I finished my story. I looked up at the agent who seemed to be looking at me less accusing than he was when I came in.

"I take that since you are here telling us this story that you have found your evidence" Agent Hart asks me softly. He holds his hand out for my camera and I hand it to him. He handles it carefully scrolling through the photos and videos that I had taken over the past five days. It takes some time for him to scroll through them all. He very carefully analyzes each image. Towards the end of my proof the agent lifts his head up and turns to the one way glass that runs the length of the room. "I am not aware of symptoms related to a mastering and the evidence looks solid, let's get a second opinion and move forward." He turns back to me. "Miss Hebert, would you please give us your guardians contact information so we can get in touch with them?" I freeze, I don't want to get dad involved in this, he is friends with Mr. Barnes and I besides, I wasn't sure how I would explain this to him at all. The agent must have sensed my hesitation because he definitely took advantage of it. "Look, Taylor, I understand you don't want your dad involved in this but this is for his protection. We want to get you and your loved ones off the streets and under protection in case this master tries to retaliate."

I thought about it. Agent Hart had a point, I would hate myself if dad got hurt because of something that I did. Reluctantly I gave them a number that they could reach him at the Union. Agent Hart took dads camera with him as he left the room, but not before promising that I would get it back, the PRT would just be removing the pictures and videos from the memory card. I was left on my own for awhile. Unfortunately, with no watch and no clock in the room I had no idea how long I was sitting there for but it felt like forever. Eventually I even took a second water bottle that was on the table and drank that. Finally Agent Hart came back with a serious look on his face.

"You did a very good job gathering your information Taylor" he congratulated me. "The hero's are gearing up as we speak. Beyond that, I do have some good news for you, we just set up a comfortable safe room for you and your' dad is waiting there for you, if you would just follow me?"

I nervously stood up and followed Agent Hart to the safe room that he mentioned. It was intimidating knowing I was walking towards the figure that was supposed to have my back the most in this world and I have genuinely no idea how he was going to react to the past week. When Agent Hart opened the door I couldn't even make it past the doorway before I was engulfed in a hug from dad.

"Taylor, oh, you are alright, thank goodness. I was so worried when the PRT called ahead to pick me up. They only gave me a very brief explanation about what happened, something about my daughter catching a possible master?" Dad looked at me as if he expected an answer.

It makes me happy to see that he wasn't upset with me, in fact I haven't seen him so active since mom died, maybe this shocked him into remembering he had a daughter to take care of. So I filled him in on all the details from the past week. From feeling abandoned by him, Emma slamming the door in my face, my realization, the surveillance all the way to coming to the PRT building. Along the way we got lost in conversation, just the two of us, finally able to talk to each other for the first time since mom died. We must have talked for hours, we laughed and cried and most importantly, that distance between the two of us was no longer so vast and unapproachable. It was cathartic in ways I never realized and I don't think that either of us understood how bad it was. But at the end of the day, no matter the outcome, both of us were happier for the opportunity to be close once again.

At one point, in the middle of our conversation the door opened and Agent Hart entered with with some dinner for the two of us. Dad ended up asking him to join us and to my surprise he did. Both of us enjoyed having another person to talk to. Agent Hart told us he didn't know how much longer that we would be here and he couldn't give us any more details about how the operation was going but that the PRT would eventually fill us in. He stayed and at one point brought up the work that the PRT does how what I had done was exactly the type of work that they do. It was an interesting thought, I had never really thought about who the PRT is and what they do, preferring to focus on the Hero's, but it did feel good to have done something that could have immediate benefits. I, Taylor Hebert just saved someone. It was a heady feeling as I imagined moms proud smile watching me.

Eventually Agent Hart left and it was just the two of us alone again. It already felt awkward again, like that connection that dad and I had just shared was gone already. We stared at each other in silence for a few moments before I saw dad wince and he started talking about nothing really, just rambling, it was forced but he was talking to me, not withdrawing and being silent. Slowly I found myself being drawn into the conversation and once again we were talking and laughing.

According to dad's watch it had just turned ten-thirty, and he had been here for eight and a half hours, and I had been here for just under ten hours myself. The adrenaline of the day was leaving me and I was feeling exhausted. I was starting to get comfortable on the floor to get some sleep when we heard a commotion from outside the room. Several voices and lots of chatter. Dad and I perked up, watching the door intently. Agent Hart opened the door and peered over to where we were sitting.

"Don't worry about sleeping here" he laughed. "You two are free to go home now, The PRT can assist with a lift home if you need situation has been resolved. We had a special request for debrief with you though, Taylor." I looked at dad in confusion before Miss Militia walked into the room. She strode over to to dad and I, extending her hand.

"Hello Taylor, it's nice to meet you. Her voice was soft, with a foreign lilt to it. If I hadn't been so drained by the excitement of the day I probably would be a stuttering mess. As it was, I was tired and riding the high of helping Emma."May I sit down? " She asks as she pulls out a chair for myself and sits down on the other.

I scramble to my feet before joining her at the table. Remembering what Agent Hart said I realized that Miss Militia herself asked to see me! "You wanted to see me" I asked, hating the waver in my voice?

"Yes," she laughed, "I wanted to meet the girl who was so concerned for her friend that she did some impressive work. I figured that I could let you know what happened today. You'll be happy to know that your friend was not mastered. She had recently gone through a traumatic experience and latched onto the parahuman who rescued her. It's not my place to tell your friends story, but I would recommend talking to her family when you leave here. The parahuman who she got involved with is an active vigilante whom the PRT has been keeping an eye on. Thanks to the situation we've been able to open up a dialogue with this person and are hoping to temper some of their more violent urges. You saw something was wrong and took steps to figure out what it was wrong and how you could deal with it in the best possible way. Taylor, you did good work today and should be proud of yourself. I'd highly recommend you look at the PRT when you graduate, I think you could go far."

I was in a bit of a shock as Miss Militia began to stand up, presumably to leave the room. On one hand, I was wrong, and Emma was not being mastered. But she was also being influenced by a violent vigilante and had just gone through something traumatic. Why didn't she just tell me I don't know but it seems like I'll just have to ask her. Either way, Miss Militia herself said I did a good job and could have a job with the PRT if I wanted to. I was swimming with the praise.

Lost in my though I wasn't paying much attention as Miss Militia quietly spoke to dad briefly then headed to the door. "Can I have an autograph" I blurted out, breaking away from my thoughts as I saw she was about to leave? Miss Militia looked at me, and I wasn't totally sure with her face hidden beneath her bandanna, but I thought she was smiling. She opened the door and received a small signed Miss Militia poster which she handed to me.

Happy with this small gift, we all said our goodbyes and I watch Miss Militia go off deeper into the building as dad and I were escorted to the parking lot. We were given a ride back home and both collapsed into bed, exhausted by the day. But I knew that come tomorrow we would go over to the Barnes and figure things out. I couldn't wait.

September 1st, 2009

Events didn't quite work out like I had hoped. I wanted everything to go back to how it was before the summer started. However in some ways things are even better. Emma is going to therapy, both for dealing with what happened when she was attacked and to get the silly ideas from that Cape out of her head. Her dad thought she would be fine so he hadn't done anything for her. One Mrs. Barnes found out about the whole sequence of events she was fuming. Mr. Barnes was in the dog house according dad. So now Emma wasn't in school, she would be going later in the year when she was a bit better and she wasn't going to Winslow anymore either. No, instead she would be going to a small private school outside of the city, supposedly they specialized in kids with troubles. I'll still get to see here at least once a month but she is going to be away for at least this school year. That decision would have meant that I would have been alone at Winslow. And since I didn't didn't really want to go there in the first place I was happy to take the scholarship option to Arcadia. And that's where I was now, dad and I got a long much better now. He cut back his hours at work and was home much more often and we tried to talk often about any issues were facing. Even the Protectorate got something out of it. They just announced a new Ward called Shadow Stalker. From what I managed to find on PHO, she was a vigilante before being suddenly recruited by Hero's. I also found a few posters who were commenting on how odd it was that Shadow Stalker was only ever seen on patrols with a full fledged Hero. I smirked, I hoped Sophia was having a good time and gets her head screwed on straight.

All told, this summer was an exciting one. And now here I stand outside of my new high school I find myself excited to see how this year goes. I miss Emma so much but I understand this is better for her and I am hoping that when she is out she can join me here. In the meantime I begin walking forwards, a new year, a new school, things are looking up for Taylor Hebert.


End file.
